You can take pride in working for the employer of choice in the communities where we do business. You'll participate in a culture that treats all employees with respect, encourages their growth and development, and rewards excellence. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome here. We want to hear every fresh approach and new experience. If you find that appealing, then IGT could be the place for you. We look forward to meeting you!

I’m afraid I can’t help with financial advice. But as far as your game design goals, I think it will be hard to start a career in games in Alaska, because there aren’t any game studios up there that I know of. The closest US city with a strong game industry would be Seattle, so one strategy might be to move to Seattle and get a non-game job while you pursue a video game design certificate or degree. But you’d want to be sure that your health and finances are in order before making such a move. Be smart about it.

I had no intent to offend but I figured I would just be blunt and there was no point in sugar-coating. I had clicked on some ebooks of yours and saw they cost money, linked in some of your replies. This coupled with your smiling face beside it I immediately thought it was a scam. My mistake, I apologize for labeling you a gimmick and thank you for this reply. There are just too many people out to get you these days. If you think about it, the rise of the video game industry could be a good way for people to prey on kids these days who have dreams of being a game developer simply because they enjoy video games.

Hi Tim, if you’re getting an Associates in Software Development then that’s a good ground to start out on. Here’s my advice: Build a very small game project while you’re in school, to use as a portfolio piece when you start looking for jobs. Then once you graduate, you can apply to jobs in other cities – just be prepared to move to a new city if you get a job offer. I wish you luck!
Hi Kyler, most game testing jobs don’t require a degree unless they also require some computer programming skills. In high school, I’d recommend taking some computer classes, maybe a programming class, and technical writing. (Or whichever equivalents your school might offer.) Many people move away from their home town to get a job after school, it’s normal to move to a new city where there are more jobs in your field.
Hey Jason, I have read so much on become a QA tester and have a few questions. First I’m going to start off by saying I am a successful BDA for All State insurance, I am 27 years old, and I have 3 diploma’s all in the business field. You might be wondering why I would be interested in pursuing a video game testing job as I do have a successful career already but to be honest gaming is the thing I love the most and I’ve never had that feeling of waking up and being excited to go to work, I kind of just do it cause the money is good and its what I’ve got at the moment so I roll with it. I now understand that you need to do a job you love over a job that pays well because its the thing you do most of the time! and lets be honest, I don’t get excited everyday about selling insurance or handling someone’s claim. I have been a hardcore gamer since I was 5 years old, all started with a Sega genesis. Ive played competitive in league of legends, heroes of the storm, overwatch, cs:go, wow arena (when it was big), I’ve literally played all these gamers with the best of the best and at one point was sponsored by 2 different companies to pursue a competitive scene in overwatch and league of legends. So my gaming experience and skills at games are well above average, as well as my knowledge for games themselves (I’ve played so many!) My question to you is do you think it is possible for someone being 27 years old to get into the gaming career? Am I limited by my age? And I also live in Canada (close to Toronto) and I feel Canada may not have the best gaming studio’s, if any near me at all….. Now I tried reading a few things from your book and tried using your “search for studio’s near you” engine but I don’t think its geared for Canadians. What steps do you think I should take to pursue this dream I have to become a game tester or even just work with a gaming company through marketing or design, writing (I have a very smart mind and I feel I can create a very good gaming story line, Ive created 2 previous games with my friends and the story line was killer! Story was all me!) etc.
Here, every day is different. Do you prefer a behind-the-scenes role? One at the front and center of the action? Or something in between? At Penn National Gaming, there’s a “fit” for just about anyone. What began in the seventies as a single horseracing venue has grown to become one of the nation’s largest gaming companies. Penn National Gaming has properties in 18 states as well as Ontario, Canada. But as big as we are, we still feel like family. With company-wide managerial support, resources, and training, our employees can count on a positive experience no matter where they choose to work. What makes you happy? Imagine giving your all to a company and watching that same commitment come right back to you.
CPU: Intel Core i3-3210 3.2 GHz / AMD A8-7600 APU 3.1 GHz or equivalentRAM: 4 GBOS: Windows 7 and upVIDEO CARD: Integrated: Intel HD Graphics 4000 (Ivy Bridge) or AMD Radeon R5 series (Kaveri line) with OpenGL 4.41Discrete: Nvidia GeForce 400 Series or AMD Radeon HD 7000 series with OpenGL 4.4FREE DISK SPACE: At least 1 GB for Game Core and Other Files
Hi Jason I have been reading some of theses comments and there’s some great advice. I have been a gamer all my life I love games if someone I know brings up a topic about games I can talk for hours about games. I’m looking to be a games tester because it’s my dream job but i can’t look after my self because of my medical problems. It would take me days to complete a game when I was young but now I can complete some games in a day or two. My quickest game to complete was home front in four hours I thought it was the easiest game I ever played. Any advice how I can become a games tester
After finishing my college degree, I decided to rest for awhile, during this time I was able to have time again playing games, when I saw your site I gave it a try and thank goodness I tried, coz right now I no longer need to look for a job, as I already have the perfect job! Thanks to you I earn more being a part time game tester compared to a full time and boring 8-5 day job.
If you are working in or looking for gaming jobs and are ready for your next career move, Games-Career.com is the platform for you. The same applies to students and new talents with an interest in computer and video games who want to break into the games industry or gain professional experience in game development, production and marketing. On Games-Career.com there are game job offers for nearly every degree of experience: If what you are looking for a full- or part-time position, a junior or senior position, for an internship, traineeship or placement as a working student in the games industry, you’ve got a good chance to find the right match on Games-Career.com.
While this overwhelmingly looks like a gimmick, from your picture, Jason, to the e-book, this site has a lot of information and I hope it is true. I’ve done my homework and saw you were a part of Griptonite Games, which made largely handheld console games, which are based mostly on movies. Knowing this I am a bit skeptical because handheld games certainly can’t be as difficult to make as console games, and games based on movies are notorious for being bad. So how would you know about joining those big companies, or making “big” games? To be honest, I never heard of Griptonite Games until just now. Could you ease my skepticism here?

Thanks you for your articles ,they helped me choose my career . I am truly indebted to you .So I wanna become a programmer and I think that I will start my career as a QA tester.im currently 16 and have played quite a few games .So can I start testing games online and what do I have to do for the basics . Also can you suggest me some programming languages essential for my game development career which I can learn right now . And which country ( particularly city ) would be best to go for my career , cause I was thinking of going to USA .Thanks

Hi Robert. It’s cool to see that you have so much passion for games! If you want to pursue a career making games, you need to figure out how to turn that passion into a skill set that you can use. I actually do think that getting a job as a tester could be a good place for you to start, because you could use your attention and focus to make money while you learn about the process of making games. Then after a while, you may start to see which other roles might be good for you to get into, for example you might make a good game producer.
Hi Sam, getting a job as a game tester may not be as far away as you think. Most testing jobs don’t require a college degree, you just need to know some of the basics of testing and you can apply for testing jobs. If you haven’t checked out my book on becoming a game tester, then I think that’s a great place to start because I wrote that book specifically for people like you. 🙂
I recently just asked on GameTesters.Net, about whether or not the testers get to keep the games or send them back, now i’ve been into gaming a lot, i’ve played many games ever since i was a kid, yes this goes way back from when i had Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64, it was the very first system i ever had as a child, i don’t have it anymore, wish i did though, but anyways, this isn’t about a Gamer’s childhood or their very first game console, this is about bein paid, to be a Gamer, now i’d love to be paid just to play video games, it has been a dream of mine to be paid, just to play video games, i think that would be top notch, an awesome, plus it is something i enjoy doing, so if anyone can tell me how to land a job like this, just let me know in a reply.

Hi Alyssa, my book does go into detail about how to write bug reports (thank you for buying a copy!). The answer to your question is “it depends” — sometimes a bunch of glitches are caused by a single bug in the code, but you probably wouldn’t know that unless you talked to a programmer about it. In your example, if you notice that you glitch through the floor in many places, you might write just one report that describes the bug and then gives a few examples of where it happened. That might be good enough to help a developer find the bug and fix it.

Hi Jackie, it’s interesting that you mention an interest in translation. Do you mean that you’re bilingual or multilingual? If so, you should investigate jobs as at companies that do “localization testing” because they employ translators and also testers. One company I’ve worked with before is Babel Media, so that could be a good place to start your search.
We are posting this on the Design Notes first because we ALWAYS want to get people from our community. You all know the game as well (and sometimes better O_O) than we do, so it makes sense to bring new help onto the team from our player community! Real life has stolen some of our testers away over the last few months, (shakes fist at real life), so it's time to buff our team count!

While this overwhelmingly looks like a gimmick, from your picture, Jason, to the e-book, this site has a lot of information and I hope it is true. I’ve done my homework and saw you were a part of Griptonite Games, which made largely handheld console games, which are based mostly on movies. Knowing this I am a bit skeptical because handheld games certainly can’t be as difficult to make as console games, and games based on movies are notorious for being bad. So how would you know about joining those big companies, or making “big” games? To be honest, I never heard of Griptonite Games until just now. Could you ease my skepticism here?

In fact, many of the testers I’ve known over the years were working as testers so they could pay their way through college. They would work part time while they went to school, or even full time while they took classes in the evenings. (Many colleges have “evening degree” programs for working professionals.) Then, after they got their degrees, they got a new job in the game studio doing what they went to school for – like art, programming or design. And you can bet they also got a healthy pay increase to go with the promotion.

Hi Dalton, some testing jobs are fine and others might require a lot of overtime. It just depends on the company you’re at, some companies are well-run and some aren’t. And some are well-run, but sometimes external factors cause problems with the game’s shipping schedule and overtime might be required. I’d recommend doing some research on any company before you take a job offer to find out whether their employees seem to be happy or not.
At the top of the list of dream jobs for gamers is video game designer. Those who work in this occupation come up with the concepts that eventually become video games. They see those ideas through to fruition by developing storylines and characters, and then guiding them through production. They collaborate with other members of the development team including artists, programmers, and audio engineers. Job titles include game designer, lead designer, and level designer.

If you are searching for a career that lets you work from your own home, then look to the video game industry. While some game testers will work in-house for major companies, work from home is a very common practice. This means that many testers have no daily schedule and no boss hovering over their work. However, once an assignment is given, you are expected to meet specific deadlines. How you meet those deadlines is entirely up to you. Often the game developer will set individual milestones, breaking down the work into smaller segments.

Cold Iron is seeking an experienced Console Gameplay Engineer to join our world class team on our next AAA title for consoles and PC! Are you a passionate game developer? Is making an awesome game the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning? We’re sure you’re amazing in your field, but do you see perfecting your skills as the means to making the best experiences possible? Great, we want to hear from you!
Online Game Tester is a website, network and job database created by a team with a big passion for games, game developing, game designing as well as game testing and reviewing. We have a lot of knowledge and experience within game testing, QA testing, game designing and developing, and we want you to make money by playing new cool games! We help you to become a game tester the easy way! We have developed some custom tools and guides that would help you succeed as a game tester, and created a job database and network with easy access in cooperation with companies like Activision, Blizzard, 2k, Rockstar Games etc
Most companies do not have a formal process for selecting a Lead Tester. If you want to progress in your career, then you should do great work and help your leads accomplish their goals for the project. Always work to take on more responsibility. If your leads come to see you as a hard worker who is capable of more responsibility, then they may promote you next time there’s an opening for a lead tester position.

I’m assuming this website is American-based (because of the mention of “provinces”), and I also assume people living in the UK or Australia won’t necessarily be able to use the advanced search; especially if you’re like me, and live in the middle of nowhere, essentially. But does the advanced search apply to worldwide users, or just to American users, or is it possible to select your country with this? I only found this website recently, so I haven’t tested it out, but if this isn’t the case, I hope you consider adding a selection of your home country to users, so they too can search for jobs.

“I used to think I was super lucky, but then I realized that those hours I spent every week on the gaming club at Emerson watching eSports, following League of Legends and playing video games were all a part of it,” she says. “Many people might not think of that as professional experience, but it’s the same thing as a film major who watches a lot of movies.”
Game testing jobs generally don’t require advanced degrees. Since you’re going for post-secondary degrees, then it might be more applicable for you to work toward a job as a video game programmer, rather than a tester. In either case, start by looking up job postings for game studios near your home to see what requirements they list, and then start working toward those requirements. There are a number of large game studios with a presence in India such as Ubisoft, EA, Microsoft and more.
The Quest for Your Career series can help. Each week, we’ll focus on one of nearly 30 jobs in the video game industry across several job families including art, design, programming, testing, production, and more. Each interview features an experienced industry veteran who tells all about what the job is, what it takes, and how you can start preparing right now.
Sales/Game Advisors — Sales associates earn starting pay around $8.00 per hour. Also called game advisors, employees provide customers with information on games and products. Other tasks include greeting patrons, completing sales, and keeping stores clean and organized. Read the GameStop game advisor job description to learn about entry-level employment opportunities with the retail chain.